The plan was for Erin and I to relax at Fish Lakes for August long weekend. For the most part, we did just that.

Mosquitos are to be expected in early August, but every year I seem to forget how bad they can get in marshy lakeside campgrounds. They never showed up in my pictures from last year, so they couldn't have been too bad, right? Ugh. Wrong. Anyhow, moving on.

It was muddy for most of the distance, which isn't unusual. It slowed our progress as we tried our best to stay in the established rutted trails. But the views were good compensation. Wildflowers were ripe in the meadows. I tried to get a look at the alternative route to Molar Pass from Fish Lakes on the return, but we decided against going that direction.

Sunday night we had a wicked thunderstorm. We brought my OR Nighthaven, which I'm happy to say performed very well as we got pummelled in waves all night long. The lightning was hitting very close at times, igniting our orange shelter like a fluorescent light bulb as the thunder shook the ground beneath us. We awoke to clearing skies and a beautiful sunrise over the Pipestone Valley.

Evening photo from the Waterfowl Lakes overflow campground the night before:

Fireball

Molar Meadows:

Alpine Glory

Ascending the meadows:

Nature's Hopscotch

Snafflehound:

Hoary Marmot Richardson's Ground Squirrel:

Richardson's Ground Squirrel Climbing North Molar Pass:

North Molar Pass Upper Fish Lake:

Fish Lake Vista Sunrise after the storm:

First Light

Molar Meadows:

Lush Meadow

Fish Lake